Search:

I lapped a heavily dished low-grit low-quality whetstone and found it helped breaking in quite a bit.

That depends on which ones you mean. The Naniwa call their 12K "new ceramics", Shapton hones are ceramic too. As for synthetic/ceramic hones, the higher the grit rating, the sharper the blade...

If you have some dull knives lying around, hone them. Otherwise, use any piece of hard (tool) steel, such as a screwdriver and rub it vigorously until the surface smoothens out. You'll be surprised...